diff -r 03a7ceb3487b src/core/android/SDL_android.cpp
--- a/src/core/android/SDL_android.cpp	Tue Feb 07 19:34:24 2012 -0500
+++ b/src/core/android/SDL_android.cpp	Sat Feb 11 21:40:56 2012 -0500
@@ -203,6 +203,40 @@
 /*******************************************************************************
              Functions called by SDL into Java
 *******************************************************************************/
+
+class LocalReferenceHolder
+{
+private:
+    static int s_active;
+
+public:
+    static bool IsActive() {
+        return s_active > 0;
+    }
+
+public:
+    LocalReferenceHolder() : m_env(NULL) { }
+    ~LocalReferenceHolder() {
+        if (m_env) {
+            m_env->PopLocalFrame(NULL);
+            --s_active;
+        }
+    }
+
+    bool init(JNIEnv *env, jint capacity = 16) {
+        if (env->PushLocalFrame(capacity) < 0) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        ++s_active;
+        m_env = env;
+        return true;
+    }
+
+protected:
+    JNIEnv *m_env;
+};
+int LocalReferenceHolder::s_active;
+
 extern "C" SDL_bool Android_JNI_CreateContext(int majorVersion, int minorVersion)
 {
     if (mEnv->CallStaticBooleanMethod(mActivityClass, midCreateGLContext, majorVersion, minorVersion)) {
@@ -351,6 +385,8 @@
 // Test for an exception and call SDL_SetError with its detail if one occurs
 static bool Android_JNI_ExceptionOccurred()
 {
+    SDL_assert(LocalReferenceHolder::IsActive());
+
     jthrowable exception = mEnv->ExceptionOccurred();
     if (exception != NULL) {
         jmethodID mid;
@@ -373,16 +409,11 @@
                     exceptionMessage, 0);
             SDL_SetError("%s: %s", exceptionNameUTF8, exceptionMessageUTF8);
             mEnv->ReleaseStringUTFChars(exceptionMessage, exceptionMessageUTF8);
-            mEnv->DeleteLocalRef(exceptionMessage);
         } else {
             SDL_SetError("%s", exceptionNameUTF8);
         }
 
         mEnv->ReleaseStringUTFChars(exceptionName, exceptionNameUTF8);
-        mEnv->DeleteLocalRef(exceptionName);
-        mEnv->DeleteLocalRef(classClass);
-        mEnv->DeleteLocalRef(exceptionClass);
-        mEnv->DeleteLocalRef(exception);
 
         return true;
     }
@@ -392,6 +423,7 @@
 
 static int Android_JNI_FileOpen(SDL_RWops* ctx)
 {
+    LocalReferenceHolder refs;
     int result = 0;
 
     jmethodID mid;
@@ -402,13 +434,9 @@
     jobject readableByteChannel;
     jstring fileNameJString;
 
-    bool allocatedLocalFrame = false;
-
-    if (mEnv->PushLocalFrame(16) < 0) {
+    if (!refs.init(mEnv)) {
         SDL_SetError("Failed to allocate enough JVM local references");
         goto failure;
-    } else {
-        allocatedLocalFrame = true;
     }
 
     fileNameJString = (jstring)ctx->hidden.androidio.fileName;
@@ -481,10 +509,6 @@
         }
     }
 
-    if (allocatedLocalFrame) {
-        mEnv->PopLocalFrame(NULL);
-    }
-
     return result;
 }
 
@@ -507,9 +531,15 @@
 extern "C" size_t Android_JNI_FileRead(SDL_RWops* ctx, void* buffer,
         size_t size, size_t maxnum)
 {
+    LocalReferenceHolder refs;
     int bytesRemaining = size * maxnum;
     int bytesRead = 0;
 
+    if (!refs.init(mEnv)) {
+        SDL_SetError("Failed to allocate enough JVM local references");
+        return -1;
+    }
+
     jobject readableByteChannel = (jobject)ctx->hidden.androidio.readableByteChannel;
     jmethodID readMethod = (jmethodID)ctx->hidden.androidio.readMethod;
     jobject byteBuffer = mEnv->NewDirectByteBuffer(buffer, bytesRemaining);
@@ -519,7 +549,6 @@
         int result = mEnv->CallIntMethod(readableByteChannel, readMethod, byteBuffer);
 
         if (Android_JNI_ExceptionOccurred()) {
-            mEnv->DeleteLocalRef(byteBuffer);
             return 0;
         }
 
@@ -532,8 +561,6 @@
         ctx->hidden.androidio.position += result;
     }
 
-    mEnv->DeleteLocalRef(byteBuffer);
-
     return bytesRead / size;
 }
 
@@ -546,8 +573,14 @@
 
 static int Android_JNI_FileClose(SDL_RWops* ctx, bool release)
 {
+    LocalReferenceHolder refs;
     int result = 0;
 
+    if (!refs.init(mEnv)) {
+        SDL_SetError("Failed to allocate enough JVM local references");
+        return -1;
+    }
+
     if (ctx) {
         if (release) {
             mEnv->DeleteGlobalRef((jobject)ctx->hidden.androidio.fileNameRef);